Gila Bend, Arizona

 

 

 

Today I moved to Gila Bend in Arizona, a small town on Interstate 8 going west.  The drive started out with a dusty desert scene, little scrubby bushes and mountains in the background.  I was disappointed and thought it would be a boring drive, but shortly there was more vegetation, palo verde trees were along the highway as well as a few saguaro cacti.  Then I started seeing more of the saguaro and bushes with little yellow flowers along the road.  It ended up being a pretty drive because the vegetation stayed with me through some hills. 

 

The saguaro shown above and in the photo below is very special because it's got a crest on it.  They are known as a crested saguaro and are quite rare.  Somehow, something goes wrong with their growth pattern.  It makes it very unique among the others, which just end with the tapered top. 

 

 

 

The Palo Verde tree is the state tree and has multiple green trunks.  The following photo shows one taken close to sunset, which gives it a golden color.  When I first saw them, there were only a few around and I thought they were rare, but now they appear all over the landscape.

 



 

And just because I think these are pretty, below is a colony of golden cactus.  I have usually seen them as single cactus or a couple together, but this is an entire family.  It's a beautiful shade of golden yellow - and very spikey.  There are some very interesting cactus in this area - such a variety!

 



 

I spent the last few days with a couple other solo women RVers, one of whom I met in Florida before I left.  Robin, my caravanning friend, came down from her volunteer work for a couple days to visit so she got to meet some other solo women.  We had a good time together, but then it became time for us to go our own separate ways again.  Hopefully we will all meet up again somewhere.